Mollum Posted March 4, 2016 Report Share Posted March 4, 2016 Hi everyone!I am a 23 year old woman, recent college grad, living in India. I discovered NF through a career advice blog that I follow. Previously, most fitness communities/forums have felt quite intimidating since they're all full of people who are ALREADY fit/know everything there is to know about fitness. I decided to sign up for NF because a) I love nerd culture, and I liked how the atmosphere was one of support and inclusiveness. Good stuff Origin Story:When I went to college (in the States), I was at a "normal" weight for my size (I'm five-two). I was still seriously unfit - for example, walking everywhere was a challenge, since in my home city, walking is impossible. Nevertheless, now that I look back at photos from that time, I was "skinny". Four years dramatically changed that and a bout of mental illness plus regular college stress plus constant homesickness plus emotional eating equaled ballooning size. I was partly in denial and partly hated myself already so what was the point of keeping what I ate in check? Plus I was convinced that fitness was not for me and I hated working out yadda yadda. The couple of times I tried getting fit, a) I had no accountability mechanism, had no plan, c) did not touch my diet and d) fell off the bandwagon when finals rolled around.Now:Coming back home/recovering has made me come to terms with reality. I am 80 kg/176 lb which I am not happy with. I feel scared of doing things like dating, going to job interviews, presenting somethting in front of coworkers. I constantly want to not draw attention to myself and I need to get over that and fulfil my potential and put myself out there. Plus I constantly felt tired and unfit, mostly ate sugary things, got sick often, etc etc. My dad and mom are both overweight, my mom seriously so, and I have a younger sister who looks fine but is absorbing those unhealthy eating patterns. We are trying to improve as a family - my dad has started his own fitness journey a couple of years ago. My mom just started and she got something similar to a Fitbit. I started going to the gym in like September with my dad in the mornings before work and I stuck with it for about two months and then quit - mostly because my dad also quit and I was his "guest" member plus I quit a job and needed to look for other ones. I recently started again - this time, it's a gym ten minutes away from my house and I've got my own membership. My dad and I still go together, and that accountability system really helps me, but he's not been going for the past couple of weeks and I've still found a way to go.In terms of nutrition, I was obsessed with Coke. Like I drank maybe about two cans a day. It was super unhealthy. Also chocolate and other sugary things. I decided to go cold turkey on the Coke mostly - maybe once a week I give myself a glass - and I try in daily practice to substitute chocolate with either a bit of dark chocolate or fruits - which is going pretty well. I'm also making a conscious effort to get 8 glasses of water a day (it's strange to pee so often). That's going well. I'm using MyPlate to track food. My calorie goal is 1200 and usually I manage to stay in that area. Yay!My main challenges are that I can't drive, and it is IMPOSSIBLE to get anywhere in my city in the early morning without a car. The second challenge is that MyPlate often doesn't have Indian food. The third is cutting out dessert. The people at my workplace LOVE their dessert so there are lots of temptations at work. I usually try to have just a tiny bit so I can curb the craving and also not look like the "office health nut". The last is getting enough protein.I have been going to the gym pretty regularly for about three weeks at this point. I decided to join this community for another accountability mechanism - not having one is my Achilles Heel. Also, writing about it makes it real so in another way this is kind of a journal.Overall this is different from previous attempts in that I am approaching this as a long term sustainable journey. I am also trying to approach it in a body-positive and non-self-flagellating way. I don't want to punish myself for having dessert once in a while. I also don't want to be overwhelmed with self hate everytime I look in the mirror or accidentally turn on the selfie camera. I wouldn't say I have overhauled my diet completely - if I have a real craving or a desire for something in particular I go and fulfil it instead of letting it become a mental struggle. If I miss a day of working out I don't beat myself up (although I am trying to work up the motivation to start a system in which I do a workout at home when I can't make it to the gym because usually I can't make it because of transport issues). I'm trying not to make an end goal out of a specific weight or a specific size. Instead I'm focusing on how exercising and a healthy diet feels - gives me more energy, makes the day feel longer, cleared up my skin, makes me feel proud of myself for committing to something. Woo!That's my story! Keep me accountable, folks! Hopefully you didn't want to TLDR this. 1 Quote Link to comment
Hart Posted March 4, 2016 Report Share Posted March 4, 2016 Welcome Mollum! It sounds like you're off to a great start! Its important to recognize our points of failure and identitfy how we can overcome them. And your method of making the small changes is perfect! I'm sure you'll find that this leads to better and better choices and ultimately enables you to hit you desired goals! Keep posting and best of luck! Keep doing what you're doing! JH 1 Quote Link to comment
bambooroo Posted March 4, 2016 Report Share Posted March 4, 2016 Hi Mollum! There is a lot of great information on here for body weight workouts when you can't make it to the gym. Welcome to the rebellion! 1 Quote 1st Challenge â—‹â—‹ Iceland Trip Link to comment
RedStone Posted March 4, 2016 Report Share Posted March 4, 2016 Hi Mollum! There is a lot of great information on here for body weight workouts when you can't make it to the gym. Welcome to the rebellion! Hello Mollum! Welcome! I'm a huge fan of body weight workouts I can do at home. Combined with clean eating I lost about 20 lbs in four months! And there's so much that can be done on your own with very little equipment. I'm new too, and just took the plunge to start a thread in the 4 week challenge department - talk about accountability! Something out sending it out to the world makes it very very real lol 2 Quote ~Peace Be The Journey~ one - two - three - four - five - six - seven- eight - nine - ten - eleven - twelve - thirteen - fourteen - fifteen - sixteen - seventeen - eighteen - nineteen - twenty - twenty one - twenty two - twenty three - twenty four - twenty five - twenty six - twenty seven - twenty eight - twenty nine - thirty - thirty one - thirty two - thirty three - thirty four - thirty five - thirty six Link to comment
Mollum Posted March 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2016 Hi Meredith! Thanks. Do you have any recommendations for body weight workouts for beginners? Quote Link to comment
RedStone Posted March 4, 2016 Report Share Posted March 4, 2016 The NF beginners body weight workout is probably a good choice - it's not exactly where I started (before I was aware of NF), but everything in there has, at some point, made it's way into my at home no frills circuits. There's a video and it's very no-equipment friendly, and I do weighted versions of plenty of these! Also, very easy to commit to 3X a week with this kind of thing. http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/ Quote ~Peace Be The Journey~ one - two - three - four - five - six - seven- eight - nine - ten - eleven - twelve - thirteen - fourteen - fifteen - sixteen - seventeen - eighteen - nineteen - twenty - twenty one - twenty two - twenty three - twenty four - twenty five - twenty six - twenty seven - twenty eight - twenty nine - thirty - thirty one - thirty two - thirty three - thirty four - thirty five - thirty six Link to comment
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